Through the Fire
by Alice W. Rabbit
Summary: Sequel to 'Tough Love'. The Gods decide to change Frigma back into a human, and Haakon disappears. She'll have to go to the ends of the Earth to get her child back, but once she gets there, will the flames prove too much? Toothless/OC
1. Chapter 1: Playtime's Over

**I'm back people! Oh man, if you though Tough Love was a weird, screwed up story, you are just going to**_** love**_** this one! **

**I feel the need to put out a little warning for people who may stumble across this without reading Tough Love first:**

_This is the sequel to my Fanfiction Tough Love. This story will make no sense unless you read the first one._

_This story contains: Human-to-Dragon transformations. If you do not like that, then please, don't read! _

_This story contains an OC pairing with Toothless (but, probably not in the way that you think!) If you detest OC's in love with Canon characters, then close this Fanfiction and go find another!_

_This story may or may not contain my own interpretations of Norse Mythology. If you find, at any point, that I'm mistaken in my information, please inform me, but do so in a pleasant manner, please._

_And finally, there will be some broken laws of physics! Please please please just go along with it! I don't care if you don't think this or that would really happen; this is a Fanfiction, not a historical report!_

**So that being said, here we go!**

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**Chapter One: Playtime's Over**

Loki walked down the long, white hallway, foreign, hard-heeled shoes clacking unnaturally against the hard-wood floor. He tugged his hand through his beard, contemplating what to do about the situation at hand. Freya needed to be reprimanded, but, he couldn't help but be impressed at the fact that she kept this secret from him for these twenty years. Not many Gods could do that.

It wasn't hard to find the Goddess; she always insisted upon trailing this moon-like glow after her wherever she went, and in the darkened rooms of Asgard, she sparkled like a star fallen to Earth.

Of course her brother would be with her, not like he was ever without her. But Loki had to wonder; if Frey knew nothing about his sister's shenanigans, she must have slipped away from him to cause all the mayhem. He was impressed; Frey stuck to Freya like glue. How had she ever gotten his attention divided?

As the bearded God made himself known by the loud 'Click-Clack' of his shoes, both identical heads looked up from the Golden Orb suspended in the air in front of them. Whatever image that had been displayed in the orb a moment ago, it was now swirling around and disappearing now that it did not hold the pair's attention any longer.

Frey was dressed in his usual garments; white cape, white shirt, white boots, golden helmet with the boar horns sticking out. He was a God, but still a man, and didn't see the point in ever changing cloths that never got dirty. Freya, on the other hand, had a new dress every day, and today's dress was floor-length and blue, and quite reminded Loki of a waterfall, the way it shimmered and danced to the floor, almost seeming to move.

"Loki," Frey acknowledged with a curt nod. Freya just looked on blankly. She knew her brother's dislike of the mischievous God. "Praise be you, what have you come here for?"

"Brother, must we be so formal?" Loki asked, throwing his arms out wide and smiling underneath his beard. Frey did not respond. "Ah, but I bring bad news to your sibling, Frey, so it be not a good occasion." To this, Freya frowned slightly, hardly any movement on her face at all.

"And what, may I ask, is the matter?" Freya spoke up, drawing a hand up to brush a lock of hair out of her face. Frey looked side-ways at his sister, not liking the tone she was taking. He hated for Freya to fraternize with Loki; he was no good, and Frey didn't want his sister corrupted by such an ill-meaning presence.

"Why, Freya, you should know. It was by your own hand that this tragedy had befallen the world of man." Loki said, a slight smirk dancing across his face. He would make sure Freya never played such a trick as this again; that is, without him in on the joke. He did love tormenting the men on Earth, and he was sour he was not included in this heinous act. It would have been fun for him.

"I have no idea what you mean." Freya said, the frown inching down her face. "Frey, please tell Loki to leave; we have much to do."

"No, sister. I want to know what he has to say." Frey gave his sister a scowl, and then gestured for Loki to continue. He hated to think his Sister would have caused misfortune to the beings on Earth; but if she had, he wanted her duly punished. She needed to know it was not their business to interfere with the Man's world.

"Well, it had been a dreadfully long time since it happened, so I understand why you would not recollect the events. If you look into the Golden eye, though, I'm sure the whole event will play out for you." Loki pointed one long, spindly finger to the orb, still floating behind the brother and sister. Frey gave his sister a hard stare, and then went over to the orb. Freya gave Loki a look like she wished him dead, and then followed her brother, and placed her hands on the orb to draw the specific images he wished to see. In the surface of the orb, a few images of a girl, a Viking, popped up. She was running and sobbing, and then, the image of a Nightfury popped up. Frey gasped, for, it was not just any Nightfury he was looking at.

"What have you done with Hardennji?" he asked, his eyes wide. He hadn't seen his trusted servant in quite some time, but Frey just assumed the normally air-headed Nightfury was playing in the world of man. He never dreamed anything bad had befallen her! Freya looked down, and her eyes filled with sparkling tears.

"I was only trying to help, brother." She said, barely more than a whisper. "You're always telling me that the men and women down on Earth are good creatures, and that we should pity them for their flaws! And I did pity that one!" Loki was absolutely cherishing this! He wondered what would happen next.

"Sister, tell me, what have you done with my Hardennji?" Frey grasped his sister's shoulders. "If anything bad has happened to her, then-"

"Nothing has happened to her, Frey!" Freya burst out. "She's still there; she's just not…there! I…I put the human in her body." Frey let go of Freya's shoulders and backed up.

"Why would you do such a thing? Such magic is forbidden!"

"I know that! But you should have been listening to her, brother! She was the one I told you about. On the eve of her birth, Thor came to me and told me that there would be a human born who would be closer to us Gods than any other human before! He told me 'Freya, I want you to mark this human as different among her fellow man, so that we may know her to be holy to us.'" She crying silvery tears, that, when they hit the floor, they shattered like a tiny sparkling glass droplet.

"The deaf child? You gave Hardennji to the deaf child?" Frey asked.

"No, my crime is worse than that, Frey! I have taken the deaf child from her human body and put her in Hardennji's body!" Seeing the look of hurt and shock on her brother's face, she put her hands to his face and kissed his cheek. "Don't be angry, brother! Hardennji is still there! If I were to take the child from the dragon's body, Hardennji would re-appear! She and I talked and agreed upon this plan many years ago; she could feel compassion for that child, I beg you, please feel compassion as well!"

"I still don't understand. Why would you do this, Freya?"

"Because I created her deaf! I made her life so wrong, I had to fix everything! When you bring a life into the world of man, you are responsible for how he or she lives in that world. If they can't survive on their own….it is your fault for making them faulty. And that was what I was commanded to do! So I had to fix it!" Frey was speechless. He just stared at his sister for a full minute, and then turned back to Loki.

"Alright, Loki. This problem had come to my attention. Now what is it that you want done about this?" He was furious at his sister for taking his most trusted servant away, but he was angrier at Loki. If Loki had never showed up that day, none of this would have been brought to Frey's attention, and both Sister and Brother would still be happy. As much as his sister had done wrong, he hated to see her cry.

"Oh, but it's not me that has a problem with all of this." He said, twirling his beard in his fingers. "It's Thor himself. You mentioned, dear Freya, that Thor commanded you to create the child different, so that he may know her different from the other men and women, and recognize her as holy among the Gods. Well, Thor wishes to see the child, now. And, I'm not sure he wouldn't recognize foul play when he saw it." Freya gasped. The jig was up. When Thor saw Frigma as a dragon, in Hardennji's body, he'd recognize Hardennji at once, and Freya would be thrown from Asgard.

"What am I to do!" she cried, reaching for her brother's hand. Frey knew that Freya would be banished, too, and he also knew she could never survive among the world of the man.

"I'll fix this, sister." He vowed, taking her hand and kissing it. "But Loki," he turned to his enemy, a smile on the old God's face. "By Hel, you are going to help me."


	2. Chapter 2: Planning

**Chapter One: Planning**

Wingless looked down at the little egg and sighed. She hadn't planned for this egg, and she was sure Hiccup and Astrid wouldn't appreciate another little devil running around the house. Of course, Toothless was as proud as ever; he always was with this sort of thing.

This new egg would be baby number four, though it still wouldn't be surrounded by all its brothers and sisters. Wingless' second child, Eira, had been Toothless' favorite child (Wingless didn't like that he played favorites) but, truly, was one of the most beautiful dragons Wingless had ever seen. Eira means snow in Norse, and that was what she reminded her mother of; her scales were even paler than Wingless' had been, and her eyes were dull blue. She'd adored her father, but, as many dragonlings often do, once she hit three years old, she left. Wingless had been sad, but she knew it was probably just instinct, because Toothless didn't seem sad at all.

The third egg had hatched into a rather small little male she'd named Roan (meaning Little Red One), for the red tint to his scales. She really was amazed at the genetic diversity of Nightfuries, since neither she nor Toothless had any red on them. But Roan had been what one might call a runt. He didn't even want to fly when it came time to learn, which Wingless was fine with, but Toothless was not. They eventually pushed him off the cliff, and he did learn. In fact, he loved flying so much, he actually left sooner than three years. Haakon was the one who had taken this the hardest; he'd grown fond of Roan, and they were always playing. Despite being twenty years old, Haakon was far from being mature, and still romped around Berk like a Hatchling!

Haakon was the only dragonling who'd stayed with his family. Even before his rider was old enough to ride him, he'd chosen to stay. Of course Hiccup and Astrid's daughter, Marnie, wanted to be his rider from the time she could claw her way up onto his back, but by that time, Haakon was already three years old, but hadn't left. This delighted his Mother, who just assumed he wanted to wait for Marnie to grow up; but little did she knew, it was actually instinct for the first born to stay with the family. Toothless had been in a late brood, and that's why he'd been able to leave the nest when he did. Of course, Wingless didn't know any of that; she'd been a human for most of her life!

Wingless sighed again and cradled the egg in her front legs. The fire that lapped up around the jet-black egg didn't even warm her scales. Wingless didn't think much these days about her years as a human, but the warmth of a fire was probably one of the things she missed the most.

Bjanca's funeral had been held a week ago, but the crazy old woman had died laughing! Even though Wingless knew she had been destined to be a Nightfury since before she was born, but Bjanca had still raised her, and Wingless was still moping about her death. She WAS old, though….

Toothless had taken it upon himself to guard the bonfire where the egg was being incubated with tooth and nail. This egg was taking longer than the others had to hatch, and he was getting worried. He always worried about the eggs; Eira's had been too pale, Roan's too small, but this one….well, this one just didn't look healthy. It was small and spotted, never a good sign, and it was already on it's forth week, and still hadn't hatched yet! Toothless and Wingless had never had a bum egg before, but he was starting to fear that this one would be their first. Wingless, though, refused to accept this. She hadn't planned for the egg, but it was still her baby, and she was already starting to mull some names over. She was thinking something regal, something that would make people think the baby was going to be great; something like Are, which meant Eagle! She wanted him to be noble!

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"Haakon!" Marnie was so tired of 'losing' her dragon. "Haakon, where are you, you lazy lizard! Get out here!" Ever since she'd gotten married, Haakon had been very skittish of her husband, and had developed this nasty habit of hiding from them both. Marnie really hated this, because Kruk really was very nice! So what if he was scary-looking (Marnie had thought that when she first met him), he was the most gentle man she'd ever met!

Marnie was not like other Viking women in the village. You could probably get away with saying she took after her mother; strong-minded and determined to get what she wanted; but there wasn't any doubt in anyone's mind that she was her Father's daughter through and through. Besides inheriting her red-hair and freckles from Hiccup, she also got his skinny frame and gangly limbs, not to mention his staggering intellect and shrewd sense of humor. That was why there were always murmurs going about when Marnie went out with her husband; 'Why did she pick Kruk?'

Unlike most Viking parent, Hiccup and Astrid had let Marnie take her own time in deciding who to marry. They certainly didn't mind Kruk all that much, but Hiccup couldn't help but be slightly disappointed at his daughter's decision. He'd always wanted her to marry somebody smart, like herself. But, he'd given them their blessing two years earlier, and despite the nine year age difference (which really wasn't all that much in Viking culture) they were happy.

But, Haakon wasn't. Haakon didn't hate Kruk; he was just terrified of the man. You have to understand, Haakon grew up with Hiccup, and you can't just be forced into a house with a guy who didn't clean the blood off his battle axes! And Kruk was huge! Tall and brawny and totally unaware of his own strength; the man was completely destructive! How could sweet, frail little Marnie ever have fallen in love with Kruk? Was that big oaf even capable of love?

"Haakon! Ug, fine! If you don't want to go flying, then I'll just go get Blade! Maybe she'll-" at the mention of Kruk's ill-tempered Nightmare, the dark-gray Nightfury shot out from under the porch, eyes searching his surroundings, and when they didn't spot the hulking mass of Kruk, he inched forward and nudged his rider's hand. "Oh, I get it! As soon as your rival's name is mentioned, you're all ready to go!" She smiled her dimpled, slightly buck-toothed smile that Haakon loved. She'd had that smile for as long as he could remember, and even when everything else had changed about her, that had stayed the same. He whined and nuzzled her hand even more.

"Alright already! Just stand still or else we'll never get flying! Jeez!"

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"How will we get her lured out of the village?" Frey asked impatiently, tapping his battle-axe against his open palm. Freya looked from the Golden Eye to smack the axe away and glaring at her brother.

"Don't be thinking you're going to use that thing on her! I forbid it, Frey! She's my ward and I'll see to it that no harm befalls her!" she glared at him, before turning her gaze back to the pictures suspended in the liquid orb. Frigma was curled up around Toothless just outside the Haddock's house, tail twitching. She was dreaming.

"I'm not. I'm not an imbecile, either." Frey retorted, setting the axe on the ground, blade down, and leaning on it. "But we can't just waltz into town and zap her back to a human. Not only would that cause turmoil on Earth, but we'll be kicked out of Asgard! And if we do nothing, we'll still be kicked out of Asgard!"

"Hush." Freya batted her brother away again. "I have a plan, alright."

"And what, sister, may I ask?"

"I'll go into one of her dreams, and tell her to meet me in the forest, next to the holy tree. She's a very obedient girl." Frey gave his sister a half-hearted smile and swung the axe over her shoulder.

"And Loki and I will be there to meet her; Freya, you're brilliant! But are you sure you don't want to be the one who-"

"No." Freya lifted her fingers from the orb, sending it into darkness. The orb fell from the air, her concentration lost, and splattered against the floor like a tipped-over glass of wine. Frey only nodded and, before he left, placed a hand on her shoulder.

After he was gone, Freya let her tears run freely down her cheeks.

"How could you ever know, dear brother, what it's like to strike down a mere child? No, I won't go. Some things are just too painful to watch."


	3. Chapter 3: Anything But That!

**So sorry this took so long! I know I've got you all used to near-daily updates! But I've been wrapped up in swim practice and hanging out with a friend who just got back from a road-trip! But here it is! I won't make you wait any longer!**

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**Chapter Three: Anything but That!**

"Hiccup! Shut that dragon up!" one Viking man shouted at a dazed and tired Hiccup. Not only had Hiccup had to stay up all night organizing the counter-attack on their new enemies, the Rude Boys Tribe, AND had to suffer through a verbal beating, courtesy of his lovely wife, but now THIS? Why were his dragons so weird? No, strike that; Toothless was normal. It was only Wingless that was weird!

Even Hiccup had noticed how shriveled and sickly the new egg looked. He'd suspected all along that it wouldn't hatch, and he thought Wingless did too. But he was wrong; he was very very wrong. Wingless was now screeching and biting at Toothless' wings as the male carried the little egg solemnly away from the incubation fire. Poor Toothless, he was taking this hard, too. He'd never lost an egg like this before, and the dragon had spent all night howling over it. The unborn baby was now three weeks over-due, and the once-black shell was now a pale grey, an almost white color. It was dead.

But Toothless was at least acting tough! Wingless was all fallen to pieces, shrieking and biting anyone who had tried to get near. She even snapped at Haakon, who's come to visit yesterday to see what all the fuss was about.

Now, Haakon was a smart dragon. No, he wasn't as smart as Wingless, but he definantly inherited his brains from his Mother. When Hiccup was explaining the whole egg thing to him, Haakon actually nodded once or twice. Weather this was just a learned habit or because he truly understood what Hiccup was saying, nobody would ever know. But Toothless never nodded at anything Hiccup said. Haakon was already outshining his father. But Haakon was just as devastated as his Mother. The only reason he wasn't here, fighting tooth and nail against the termination of the egg was because Hiccup's daughter had come and dragged him away.

"_Let go, you son of a siren!" _Wingless screamed in her head, trying to claw at her mate's eyes. Her precious Are was being carried by Toothless like a fish! He wasn't even being careful! What if he dropped the baby? Are would surly die! "_You are not taking my baby anywhere! Let him GO!"_ Toothless' tail was dragging in the dirt as Wingless tried to fight her losing battle. Toothless knew what had to be done. Having the egg around would just hurt Wingless even more.

Wingless knew, deep down in her heart, that Are would never fly. He would never breathe fire, he would never chew on his parent's ears, never take his first steps. He wouldn't get to do any of those things, because little Are was already dead. But she didn't want to accept it! What kind of a Mother would she be if she just gave up on her son? No, maybe he could still hatch! Maybe he was just a little late! Roan had been a few days late, maybe Are would be the same.

But this egg was more than a few days late. Try weeks late. Wingless knew it. The egg had to go, there was no baby inside. But she hated it. Why hadn't it hatched? What had she done wrong? Had she been too careless when the egg was still forming inside her? Maybe she'd knocked into one too many trees? Was all this her fault? She kept agonizing over all these questions as she continued to bite and claw at Toothless. She wouldn't let Are go down without a fight!

"_You're really not going to make this easy, aren't you?"_ Toothless thought, hoping for the millionth time in the past few weeks that his mate could hear him. Before he'd met Wingless, he was always content with the silence in his head, and always thought it was sort of funny how the humans would squawk at each other to communicate. But now, he would give anything to be able to console her; this was such a tragedy! "_C'mon Wingless, you know I hate to do this too! But we have to! Living among these humans for so long has made us soft. If I were my mother, this egg would be long gone by now."_

The struggle for the egg went on for another fifteen minutes, before Astrid woke up and came out. Astrid and Hiccup were about 45 by now, and in Viking standards, that's living to a goodly age. And Astrid liked her sleep, she always had, so when two full-grown Nightfuries were throwing up dust and shrieking outside her window at dawn, she was not happy.

"Hiccup!" she walked up behind her husband as he settled his head in his hands. "What's going on? Why are they doing that?" she pointed at the dragons; it seemed now that Wingless had the upper-hand, and had almost gotten the egg away from Toothless. Hiccup just sighed.

"It's the egg," he explained, not looking up. "It's dead and Toothless is trying to get rid of t, but Wingless won't let him." At this, Astrid lifted her chin and without hesitation, jumped onto her dragon's back, who'd finally gotten the egg away from Toothless. She reached around Wingless' head, and snatched the egg away.

"Wingless, this is DEAD! It's not a baby!" Astrid said, bending her head to look at her Nightfury. Instead of seeing anger, like Astrid figured would happen, she saw sadness in Wingless' big green eyes. Astrid's expression softened, and she patted Wingless' head. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"_YES!"_ Wingless thought, and collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted. Astrid jumped off Wingless' back and walked over to her husband, handing him the egg. Toothless, still bleeding from a gash his mate had sliced above his right eye, sat down beside Wingless and started licking her ears. He didn't know why this calmed her down, but it always did.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Hiccup whispered while Astrid went back inside.

"You're smart, Hiccup. Figure something out. In the mean-time, I'LL be catching up on m sleep if you need me."

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After a lot of persuasion by Hiccup, Wingless was finally asleep. She hadn't slept in days; she'd been keeping constant watch on the egg, in case it hatched during the night. But even now, as she slept, she wasn't having any dreams. Or at least, no dreams that made sense. She was aware that she was asleep, but all she saw around her was darkness. When she ran to try and find the end of the darkness, she couldn't find anything. It was like being at the bottom of the ocean. Or dead.

"_Hello?"_ she thought, accompanied by a questioning growl. "_Anybody here?"_

"Over here!" a strikingly familiar voice called from somewhere to her left. When she turned her head, she could see a faint shimmer to her left. She started walking towards it, and to her surprise, the glimmer actually got bigger! And now it wasn't just a glimmer, it was a light in the distance. Then it grew into a bigger light, and then it was about the size of a child. Soon, she was close enough to see what it really was; it wasn't just a light, it was attached to somebody Wingless remembered from her past.

"_Freya?"_ Wingless asked, stretching her neck to sniff the Goddess. Freya smiled her usual smile, but it seemed different somehow. When Wingless looked closer, she could see her eyes weren't smiling; they were crying.

"Yes child, it is I." The Goddess said, resting a hand on Wingless' head. "I've come to deliver a message to you." Around Freya's shoulder, there was a bag slung. Something inside the bag was moving.

"_What is it?"_ the dragon thought, still focused on the wiggling bag.

"I cannot give it to you here." Freya answered. "You must meet me at the place where this all started." Wingless knew she was talking about the tree she'd been at when she was turned into a dragon. "But you must listen to me, my child. If you go, questions will be answered," as she said this, she took her hand away from Wingless' head and set it next to the bag, who wiggled that more fiercely. "But sometimes, some questions need not be answered. You have a choice in your destiny, Frigma Svenson." Whoa, Wingless hadn't been called that in over twenty years! "Go, and things will change. Stay behind, and you will remain the same. I pray you make the right choice."

By now, Wingless was almost certain it was her tiny unborn Are in that bag of Freya's. Was that what Freya was going to show her at the tree? Was she going to get Are back? Then there wasn't any other choice; Wingless would HAVE to go to the tree.

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Toothless lifted his head sleepily as Wingless stood up and stretched. He looked around, and when his eyes fell on the window, he saw that it was still pitch black outside.

"_What could she be up to?"_ he thought as Wingless nosed open the door and took off running from the house, towards the forest. "_She's not running away because of the bum egg, is she?"_ he started to panic. He didn't want to lose Wingless! He loved her!

Thinking only for a moment about what Hiccup would do when he woke up and found both dragons missing, he followed Winless out.


	4. Chapter 4: Not Possible

…**.Nothing to say, except I'm excited for the drive I have tomorrow for drivers ed! Yay I can't wait!**

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**Chapter Four: Not Possible**

Maybe it was the sound of her heart thumping in her chest, or maybe it was the rush of the adrenaline as she raced through the forest; either way, she was completely oblivious to the near-silent foot-falls of Toothless as he chased after her. Even if she had noticed, she wouldn't have cared. All that really mattered right now was the baby Wingless KNEW Freya had. She was almost certain that Are was with the Goddess, and that he would be given a second chance at life.

But Toothless had no knowledge of the pre-arranged meeting his mate was racing off to go meet. All he knew was that Wingless was acting strange. Well, stranger than usual. She hadn't done anything like this (sneak away from the house in the night) since she first arrived on Berk. In all the time they'd spent together, she had been almost completely normal; and now this? He was just afraid something bad was going to happen.

Toothless was a master of stealth. He WAS a Nightfury, after all! But for all his life, he'd never met any other dragon, of his species or otherwise, that could match him in his ability to disappear; that is, not until he'd met Wingless. As both dragons galloped away from the village, Toothless was finding it harder and harder to keep up, because while he could hide from her, Wingless could also hide from him. How could she be so agile? At night? In the woods, for Thor's sake! Toothless got the whole 'females being more flexible' thing, but this was ridiculous! She was squeezing past trees and inching under fallen logs that Toothless could never dream of fitting around or under! And that was why, before he knew it, Wingless was out of sight.

It wasn't hard, though, to follow her scent trail. He'd known how to pick up a scent from birth, and it was only a matter of time before he was halted right outside a mossy clearing in the middle of the woods. Wingless was sitting under the tall tree there, her tail lashing to and fro impatiently. Toothless knew she was waiting for something to happen; but what? He decided the best thing to do would to be to just sit and wait. Whatever was going to happen would happen eventually.

Wingless twitched her ears, trying to pick up any sound of Freya's approach. It was futile, though, the Goddess wouldn't just tromp through the forest! But she still tried. In the past, when Wingless had spent time as a human, she'd never have dreamt about caring so much for anyone, but now that she had children, they were all she ever thought about.

It was well past midnight when Wingless was startled back a wake (she'd been starting to doze off) by an eerie white light zig-zagging through the trees. She was disoriented by it at first, her brain automatically jumping to the conclusion that it was a firefly, but as the light began to take shape, she realized it must be Freya! The Goddess had finally arrived!

But something was off. The shape of the being in front of her wasn't at all feminine; and much too tall to be the slight Freya. This unknown being was quite obviously a man; though he carried a satchel like Freya's and a bow-and-arrow slung over one shoulder. As his features were thrown into focus, Wingless could see he had the face of Freya, with a beard, and his jaw-line was slightly more rigid. He was not smiling, and as soon as his frown found her eyes, Wingless shrunk back, instantly fearing what was happening. This was not supposed to happen! Where was Freya? Who was this God?

And then, all of a sudden, a small black mist started to creep up around the God and dragon. It was thick and dark and made the air staggeringly hard to breath. So much so, that it woke Toothless, who was snoozing behind the bush he'd been hiding behind. Upon seeing his mate confronted by an unknown Viking and surrounded by this toxic mist, he tried to leap forward to protect her; but as he soon found, with every step he took towards them, they got that much farther away. What was this sorcery? He couldn't breathe for the mist nor the fear that was rolling off Wingless in harsh waves. She was absolutely terrified.

The mist soon started to materialize, too. Next to the glowing white God now stood a tall, black-cloaked man with a small beard made of thin red hair. This was all starting to make sense to Wingless. Thinking back to her days as a human, she wracked her brain for any knowledge on the Gods. This white God was obviously Frey, Freya's sister and the black God….was Loki? She had no idea what Loki was supposed to look like. But evil and sinister sure fit the bill here!

"Child of the Night, they call you," Frey spoke up suddenly, making Wingless jump. She turned her gaze on him, her eyes wide, but questioning. Who called her Child of the Night? Why? "They all know about you. Well, all except Thor. But the question here is not what you are now; it's how you became this way in the first place." Loki smiled beside his companion, stretching out his long fingers to pat Wingless on the head. Wingless let out a screech before snapping at his bony hand; this caused poor Toothless to throw himself forward in a desperate attempt to move, but the magic held. Loki only whipped his hand back into his cloak and sneered.

"Testy, testy!" he chided, wagging a finger. "And so ungrateful, considering we let this pathetic little charade go on for so long!" Frey held up a hand to Loki to silence him, and then strode forward. His hand was outstretched, but Wingless knew no good could come from this God. If this was any good news, Freya would be here. This was bad. This was very bad.

"I know not of the lies my sister fed you," he began as Wingless backed up, away from his hand. She didn't want him to touch her. "But the body you inhabit now is not yours. And I know, Frigma, that you are not a selfish girl. So I will ask you once: relinquish my servant's body and we will go in peace." Wingless' mind was racing to fast to comprehend what Frey was saying, but the first coherent thought she was able to form came out as a yell in her head.

"_STAY AWAY!"_ She thought, her back now hitting the tree behind her. To this, Frey only chuckled.

"I asked you once nicely. Just remember that when you curse my name." Wingless let out one last howl as Frey's hand drew ever closer, but before he could touch her forehead, Loki shot forward, his hand stabbed through her chest. Although her howl was cut off into a stifled gurgle, no pain erupted like she expected it to. Instead, an uncomfortable numbness started to spread from the place Loki had stabbed her: from her chest to her arms and neck, to her legs and tail. Her head and wings were last, and then, when she was completely numb and could only blink her eyes, Loki ripped his hand away, and with it, drug a limp Nightfury with him. Wingless was so confused! The dragon Loki was now setting on the ground was her…but she wasn't in her body. Had he killed her? Was she a spirit now, looking at her lifeless corpse? But slowly the numb feeling from before started to creep away, and Wingless was left to slump on the ground in an unfamiliar body, too weak now from shock to move.

At this moment, two things happened. First, the body that was once Wingless' started to stir. It was just a tail-twitch at first, but slowly, ever so gently, the dragon started to lift itself up onto its legs. Wow, Wingless never realized how beautiful she was until she looked at herself from different eyes! As soon as the dragon was up, though, the second thing happened: Toothless broke through the barrier; or rather, the barrier was lifted and Toothless was _allowed_ through.

Loki and Frey took a step back as Toothless approached the dragon. All the love and concern vanished from his eyes as he approached though, and Wingless felt like howling with joy!

"_You're just an imitation!"_ she thought, willing herself to smirk. "_My Toothless knows who the REAL Wingless is!"_ But no matter how much she wanted to vocalize, she couldn't get her mouth to move. What was this numbness? It was frightening. The only comfort Wingless had was seeing her mate charge the unfamiliar Nightfury, hitting it in the side with his head. The fake Wingless let out a cry of pain, but when she landed, she didn't try to retaliate; she just scuttled over to the Gods on the side-lines and stood behind their legs. She was shivering slightly.

But as curious things often do, the weirdness just didn't stop there. Wingless guessed that the Gods had re-animated her body with some imposter personality, and she expected the imposter to be in on the whole plan. But as Wingless watched the Nightfury slink around behind its master's feet, there was only hatred in its eyes. The Nightfury was not happy with the Gods.

And as suddenly as they'd come, the Gods started to disappear. Loki was the first to de-materialize and turn back into the choking mist, and he slunk away. Frey hoisted the Nightfury onto his shoulder (No easy feat!) and they too, began to evaporate. And then, Wingless was alone with Toothless.

Toothless didn't know what to think! He saw the whole thing in front of his eyes; the black-cloak man stabbed Wingless, and then, ripped this girl away from her. It was the most peculiar thing he'd ever seen. But as soon as he was allowed near the other Nightfury, he knew it wasn't Wingless. He could see it in her eyes; Wingless didn't have yellow eyes.

And then, there was this girl. She DID have Wingless' eyes; the same color and shape; but it was a human! There was no way this human could be Wingless! But when Toothless walked over to her and gave her a good sniff, he found that she bore a scent that was almost identical to his mates. Who were those strange men who'd done all this? Where was Wingless! Toothless' brain couldn't put two and two together in the way that a human's could, but he knew something was devastatingly wrong.

And, at the moment, he knew there was something wrong with this human. She was impossibly still, and did nothing more than stare at him. When he touched her cheek with his nose, he felt that she was cold, too, something that's never good for a human.

"_She's sick,"_ he concluded, sitting down next to her and wrapping his wings around her. "_And she knows where Wingless went. She won't show me now, but maybe when she's better, she'll speak."_ And after a while of trying to warm her up, he gingerly carried her back to the village; back to Hiccup. Hiccup would know what to do with her. Hiccup knew everything.


	5. Chapter 5: Just Confused

**Chapter Five: Just Confused**

Wingless looked down at her back feet; well, just her regular feet now. There were toes and everything, and the nails were short and round! What good did those do anyone? Why even have them if they couldn't do any damage?

"_Gatta stop thinking like that,"_ she told herself, shaking her head and once again becoming startled by the hair that rustled around beside her ears. Everything was so….foreign! The shock still hadn't worn off, and her brain hadn't even begun to process the severity of the things that had taken place yet; she was still marveling at how hard it was to walk on two feet! And fingers, she couldn't for the life of her remember how to use them properly! Just grasping the cup on the table in front of her was a challenge; human skin had such low traction!

Wingless-oh, wait, it was Frigma now, wasn't it? Frigma was sitting at the table in the middle of Hiccup's house, Astrid bleary-eyed and confused in the corner and Hiccup near-speechless as he sat across from her. Toothless had managed to drag Frigma half-way through the forest before she'd finally been able to move and stand on her legs; and although she stumbled the whole way there, the two finally made it to Hiccup's house. Toothless had shaken Hiccup awake, and as soon as Hiccup took a look at Frigma, he went ghostly white.

So he'd gotten her some mead and wrapped her in a blanket (her lips were practically blue) and set her down at the table, and was now just staring at her. But it wasn't like Frigma had much to say anyway; even if she'd learned how to talk before becoming a dragon, she would have forgotten how, anyway.

And that brought Frigma to the forest major revelation that night: though she hadn't fully realized the repercussions of the switch, and even though she was a human now, she could still hear. How was it that she had gotten this body back, but her ears worked fine? Had Frey said something about 'giving you a gift for your troubles' right before he'd vanished? Frigma really couldn't remember. She couldn't remember a lot from the past few hours. Her mind was in a thick fog and it was hard to dredge her thoughts out of it.

Toothless was sitting near Frigma with his head resting on the table top, looking from his rider to the mysterious girl and back. He was just as confused as the girl looked, but his brain was starting to come up with an image from a long time ago; the image of somebody's face. Now that he really wracked his brain for it, he could vaguely remember a girl who'd gone missing a while back; a girl that had owned some beads that held some importance to Wingless.

Ouch. His train of thought stopped there when the image of Wingless popped up. He was so confused as to where his mate was; it hurt to think about her. It wasn't a hurt like a hurt that would leave a physical scar; but it was like the hurt Toothless had felt when he'd seen Hiccup falling into the flames of the downed Dragon Queen all those decades ago. It hurt in his heart, and he felt like howling.

Hiccup cleared his throat after a while, and turned to Astrid. Astrid's face was still saggy and tired, and she looked slightly grumpy at being woken up so late. When Hiccup waved her over to whisper something in her ear, she grumped a bit before shuffling towards him.

Frigma strained her ears to hear what they were saying behind their hands, but found that her human ears weren't a strong as her dragon ears had been. But she didn't have to wait long for an explanation; one came right after Astrid turned her back to go upstairs and Hiccup turned his gaze back to Frigma. There was an odd-sort of look on his face; it was like half-way between a smile and the look somebody might have if they were screaming.

"Frigma," he started, making the words clear on his lips, he obviously didn't know she could hear now. "Where did you go?" Frigma just stared at him blankly, confused by his question. Only when she realized he didn't know she was Wingless did she give a weak smile and sighed. She concentrated hard on what she knew words sounded like, and decided she'd give talking a shot.

"A-way," she said, slightly choppy and a little slurred. Hiccup's mouth almost dropped to the table, and Toothless' eyes shifted to her again.

"Y-you talked! I mean, uh, what do you mean, 'away'?" He smiled nervously, and tapped his metal foot. Well, what was Frigma supposed to say? Now that she was human again, she couldn't just admit that she'd been Wingless the dragon; not only would they send her away to a deserted Island to spend her days in solitude for being completely bonkers, but it didn't seem right for a human to-

"Oh," from Hiccup's stand-point, it looked like something had hit Frigma in the face when she uttered the tiny word, and then she immediately jumped up, knocking her chair over and startling Toothless. "Oh, no!" she started trying to make it to the door, but Hiccup lunged forward and grabbed her wrist before she could get far.

"Wait, what's wrong? Frigma, what's all this about?" he didn't like not knowing things, and this was just so weird, he hated being in the dark about the whole situation! But as soon as he yanked Frigma back, her arm came around and struck him full in the face, causing him to let go of her arm and stumble back. Toothless jumped up to catch Hiccup as he fell, and by the time both boys looked up, Frigma was gone.

It hadn't been Frigma's sudden appearance that had made Hiccup so surprised, and it wasn't even the fact that she could talk and had seemed to understand him normally; no, all that seemed 'normal' enough. What had really spooked him, though, was the fact that, in all the twenty years the girl had been missing; she hadn't seemed to age a day. She looked as if she'd just turned twenty, and in fact, that was just about the age she'd disappeared at, give or take a year.

* * *

"_FREYA!"_ Frigma shouted in her head, knowing that if the Goddess was listening, she could hear her. "_Freya, please! What's going on! Why did you take me out of my body?"_ as soon as her mind had cleared, Frigma started to realize what had been done to her. She'd been reverted back to her human body; her fake body! For some reason, the Gods had taken her true body, her dragon body, away from her! Was she being punished? Was this for Are?

As Frigma ran, she kept falling down, and every time her knees connected with the dirt, it reminded her that much more how wrong it felt to be in a human body. She wanted to be a dragon again! She wanted to be herself again!

_**"I know not of the lies my sister fed you, but the body you inhabit now is not yours. And I know, Frigma, that you are not a selfish girl. So I will ask you once: relinquish my servant's body and we will go in peace."**_

The words spoke by Frey then rang through her head. They were so loud and clear; but she had no idea of their meaning. Not hers? But Freya had told her that the body of the dragon had been her real body from the start! She'd been born human by mistake! If Frey was saying that the dragon body was not hers, then that meant that one of the two Gods was lying!

Frigma tripped yet again, but this time not over her own feet. It was a root she'd stumbled over, and this time, she didn't care to get back up. She felt lost and confused in this body, and she didn't know what to believe anymore. She just wanted to curl up and have things go back to the way they used to be! She wished she'd never had that dream with Freya. She wished….

Her last wish went un-thought, because she drifted off into sleep then. She was too tired to go on. She needed to rest.

* * *

Freya shed a single, silver tear as she gazed into the Golden Eye. The small body of Frigma, her special earth-bound child lay crumpled and defeated on the ground as she sobbed herself to sleep. She couldn't bear to see her this way.

Why was Freya so affected by this child? She'd sent countless souls to Earth before, some with far worse deformities and tragedies than being deaf, so why was Frigma different. Freya didn't know why, but she'd felt a small, sparkling light as she'd held her tiny soul before sending it to her body. Maybe it was that special spark that she'd felt that set her apart. Maybe it was simply the fact that she was dubbed a holy child by Thor. Freya didn't even care for the reason, she just knew that she loved Frigma like she'd love any child of her own.

She dragged a finger across the surface of the Golden Eye, causing the image to vanish, and then let the orb drop. It didn't shatter this time, only bounced softly against the wood floor before vanishing.

"I swear," she vowed, pulling her braids apart by the ends. "I swear, Frigma. This injustice will not go unchecked. You deserve everything that I've gifted you with, and your heart deserves to be happy. I swear by all of human-kind that I will fix this."


	6. Chapter 6: Jail Break

**Moving so slooooow! Uggg!**

**BTW, Tuffgrip (he's mentioned in this chapter) is Tuffnut's eldest son.**

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**Chapter Six: Jail Break**

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Marnie woke with a start after three rapid knocks on her door. Kruk only grumbled a bit and rolled over in his sleep. Thinking it was probably just the wind, she tried to go back to sleep, but a furious scratching came from the door not a minute later, and she knew it was for real.

Marnie took after her mother when it came to sleep, and when she answered the door, she snapped at Toothless and her dad for waking her up in the middle of the night.

"How many times have I told you, Dad?" she grumped, rubbing her eyes. "Not everyone is crazy enough to want to go flying at night! SOME of us aren't nocturnal and LIKE to sleep at ni-" but she was cut off when she saw the sleeping girl in her Father's arms. "Who's that?"

"I hardly know!" Hiccup said, still half-way hysterical and half-way confused. "But she's asleep, and if she wakes up, she'll try to run away again."

"And you've brought her here because….?"

"This idiot," Hiccup glared down at Toothless, who dipped his head and smiled slyly, "Won't let her sleep! He keeps trying to wake her up! So I want you to keep her here." He gave a small smile and shrugged. "At least until morning. Maybe then I can get some straight answers out of her." Marnie was still confused, but didn't really have much of a choice when her Dad dumped the girl into her arms and started walking away.

"Hey, wait!" she called, trying to be quiet. "What's her name? Where'd she come from?" Hiccup was already out of earshot, though, and her questions went unanswered. "Well, this is just perfect!" She wasn't in a very good mood, and hadn't been all day! Haakon had knocked over several barrels of fish down by the docks, and Marnie had to pick them all up! She still reeked of fish! But what could she do? Leave the poor girl outside? Grudgingly, she lugged the sleeping lump inside and dumped her into the spare bed in the corner.

"Fine, fine you can stay." She grumbled as she sat down on her own bed. "But you better explain yourself in the morning!"

* * *

Hardennji tried to calm the frantic Nightfury down, but her words just seemed to infuriate him even more. She understood why he was so panicked; she'd be scared too if she'd been snatched up in the middle of the night by that dastardly Loki! But nothing she was doing could soothe him!

"_Be calm, special one!"_ she said again, touching his shoulder with her tail tip, but this only made him lash out at her, snarling and baring his teeth.

"_Get out of my head, demon!"_ he thought, glaring at her sickeningly yellow eyes. "_Get out or I swear I'll-"_ Poor Haakon. One minute, he was sleeping peacefully at the end of Marnie's bed, and then the next, he was trying to run from this thick cloud of black mist, and then he was snatched up by these gigantic boney fingers! Before he was even properly awake, he was here, in this weird white house that smelled like sea-salt and flowers, with this foreign Nightfury!

At first, Haakon had been fooled into thinking that witch was his Mother; even he had to admit, she looked almost identical! But as soon as she'd turned those awful yellow eyes on him, he knew it was an imposter!

But that wasn't even the strangest thing about this place; no, the strangest thing was that both his siblings were there, also! Eira was sitting in a far off corner, swishing her tail across the smooth wood floor. Haakon didn't really like his sister much; she was far too vain for his liking, but Roan, the little devil, was standing right beside his brother, growling at the Mother-Imposter.

"_Please, children! I am not your enemy!"_ Hardennji pleaded, flattening her ears against her head. It had not been her idea for any of this to happen; in fact, she had been in on the original plan to give up her body for the sake of the little deaf child! Frigma had a good heart, and Hardennji, being a celestial servant, had lived a good 500 years anyway, and was willing to let Frigma borrow her body for a few hundred more. But Loki had ruined everything, and now she was not only stuck in Asgard under lock-and-key, but the children Frigma had Mothered where now locked away also!

The best Hardennji could figure was that the children were somehow tied to this body, and even though Frigma felt like their Mother, Hardennji was technically their physical Mother. So now that she was promoted once again to God-like status, these children were too.

"_Where's Mother!"_ Roan growled, taking a step closer and stretching his wings out. "_Where's Wingless? What have you done with her!"_ Roan really wasn't a mama's boy (no, that was Haakon!) but wasn't it the duty of all children to love their Mother? And he really was worried.

"_And where are WE?"_ Eira thought from the corner, throwing a helpless glance at Haakon. "_I have an egg to attend to! Scorch can't be trusted with that thing; he'd push it off a cliff and claim he was teaching it to fly!" _To this Haakon rolled his eyes. It was quite a curious thing, how they could all hear each other's thoughts. It was probably the witch's doing.

"_All will be right again, as soon as I'm able to leave this room,"_ Hardennji answered, stretching out a foreleg to Roan in a gesture of peace. Roan just smacked her foot away and sat down, glaring. "_A terrible mistake has been made, and I'm trying to set it all right again. I just need a little help from Freya."_

Haakon, Eira and Roan were dragons, and being dragons, had heard many of the Gods names spoken of by the Vikings, but had no idea who these people were or their importance. So when Hardennji mentioned Freya, Haakon shot forward and knocked his head into her side, sending her tumbling over.

"_YOU listen, witch!"_ Haakon said, hoping his thoughts conveyed the right level of hatred. "_If our Mother is harmed in any way-"_

"_I assure you, she's perfectly safe! And she'll be restored to her former self in no time!"_ Roan's ears perked back up after Hardennji finished talking, and he squinted at her.

"_What do you mean, 'restored'? Is she wounded? What have you done to her!" _Both brothers were growing impatient with Hardennji's cryptic answers that kept leading them in circles. They wanted straight answers, and they weren't willing to wait forever to get them!

But just when Hardennji was about to jump away from the inevitable attack, a small set of footsteps could be heard outside the door all the dragons were being kept behind. Hardennji let out a huge sigh as she realized those steps could only belong to Freya.

"Hardennji? Children?" Freya called, knocking quietly.

"_Yes Freya, we're here!" _Hardennji thought, the relief apparent in her thoughts. Haakon growled at the door, but before either brother could leap, Eira jumped up and pushed her way to stand in front of the door.

"_I'm no child!"_ she thought indignantly. "_I have a mate and an egg of my own! I haven't been a child for nearly 15 years!"_ Eira really was the vainest of the three siblings, as were most females of the species. Roan and Haakon both just looked at each other, silently grateful that Wingless wasn't this self-centered.

A light, chime-like laugh could be heard on the other side of the door, and while this made Eira fume even more, she didn't say anything more.

"I've got the key to let you four out," Freya said, and through the key-hole of the door, a bright light shined through. The door swung open not a moment later, and Haakon and Roan both leapt over their sister to get out, but were blinded mid-jump by Freya's brilliance. Never before had they seen a person that glowed so brilliantly; she looked like a star, and she chuckled as both dragons came crashing to the floor. Hardennji gave Freya a hard stare, and both Goddess' stepped out to face the three siblings.

"We haven't got much time," Freya started, setting a hand on Hardennji's head. "Frey will be back from the battle any minute now, and we've got to sneak you three past the sentries."

"_And we have a long journey back. So we need to start moving now."_ Hardennji finished, starting to turn, but stopping as Roan reached out and held her tail-fin down with one foot.

"_Hold up, what's-your-name, Where exactly are we going?"_

"Home, of course," Freya said. But as she said this, footsteps could be heard around the corner. "Come, my brother approaches! Please, all will be explained as soon as we're out of the immediate danger!"

* * *

"Good bye, Kruk!" Marnie called as her husband left for the docks. "Remember to check your boots for eels before you come home; Haakon really hates eels!"

Marnie's little house-guest still hadn't woken up yet, and though she felt the urge to throw her out of bed and demand to know what was going on, she knew she really couldn't do that. She'd inherited her Mother's spunk, but her Father's courtesy. So she just had to wait for the little run-away to wake up.

As it would seem, though, she didn't have to wait long. While Marnie was outside, searching under the deck for Haakon, who'd disappeared again, she heard a thump coming from inside, and when she went to investigate it, saw that the girl had fallen out of bed and woken up.

"Well well well," Marnie said, putting her hands on her hips. "Sleeping beauty finally wakes up. So are you ganna give me some answers here, or are you ganna run away just like my Dad?" To Marnie's surprise, the girl looked up with a set of very familiar eyes; Haakon's Mother, Wingless, had the very same colored eyes as this girl. They were so similar, it actually caused Marnie to jump back in amazement, and the girl gave her a weird look.

"Sorry, it's just….nothing." she said, straightening up and extending a hand to the girl. "Here, I'll help you up. The floor's dirty as all git-out; haven't swept in ages." When the girl took her hand she was wobbly standing up; like she'd never used her legs before. And then, before Marnie could say anything more, the girl spoke. Her words were slightly slurred, and Marnie wondered if it was some sort of accent from a far-off land.

"Where's Haakon?" the girl asked, looking Marnie dead in the eye. Marnie was confused; how did this girl know her dragon's name?

"How did you-"

"Listen Marnie, this is very important. Have you seen Haakon today?" Marnie almost laughed, for a minute, she thought this was all being set up by her Dad as some sort of weird joke, but the serious look the girl was giving her told her otherwise. She wanted to come back with a smart remark, but ended up just answering dumbly.

"No, I haven't," she said, almost monotone. "Why?"

"Oh, Gods, why have they done this to me!" the girl started trying to pace, but kept tripping over her feet. "Ah, how can anyone walk with these stupid feet? Why do they even need toes!" They? What was she going on about? She looked to be about Marnie's age, why was she having so much trouble walking? Hadn't she been doing it this way her whole life?

Frigma knew Marnie. She'd known Marnie from the moment she was born; she had been a rambunctious child with a soft-side for dragons. She had a good heart, and Frigma had had some good conversations with the girl when she'd been a dragon. That was why, when Marnie asked 'What's going on?' Frigma felt that she might, just might, understand. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the girl.

"Marnie, I don't want you to say anything for a few minutes. Let me explain everything, and then you can say what you like. But please just let me finish, alright?" Marnie nodded.

"Alright, here goes. I was born 42 years ago here in the-"

"42? But you don't look a day over 25!" Marnie interrupted.

"What did I just say about interrupting me?"

"Sorry!" Frigma sighed again and rubbed her forehead.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again, please. Like I said, I was born 42 years ago as a human, here in Berk. But I was born deaf. I know what you're thinking, that I can hear you just fine now. But I'll get to that in a moment. When I was 22, 20 years ago, Freya met me in the forest, and, as crazy as it seems, told me she could restore my hearing, and then turned me into a Nightfury! It wasn't for a few months that she finally told me that I'd been meant to be born in the dragon's body in the first place, and by that time I'd already-" she paused for a minute, and then continued, "Let me put it this way: I'm Wingless."

Marnie's mouth was hanging open, and a look of utter disbelieve was plastered on her face, and Frigma knew she was losing her. "Freya told me I'd been born a human by mistake, and so, she'd set everything right by making me a Nightfury. So, I've been living for 20 years as a dragon, and Haakon is my son." Marnie nodded slightly, but her expression didn't change. "And after I lost my forth egg, Freya told me to meet her in the wood again, to give me some kind of gift. But when I did, I was met by two different Gods, I think it was Frey and Loki, and they made like….this." she looked down at herself and sighed. "But last night, Freya came again in a dream and told me to look for something lost; something that is precious to me has been stolen. And I think….I think she means Haakon. So please, have you really not seen him this morning?"

Marnie laughed once, and then frowned, and then smiled again, before putting her face in her hands. How was she supposed to believe any of that? That this girl had been Wingless? That the GODS had made her like that, and then turned her back? That was so stupid, so idiotic, so….so….so unbelievable, it had to be real.

Hadn't her father once told her that the Truth was stranger than Fiction? How could she make all of that up? She would have had to have been hit in the head, and HARD to make anything like that up. And she was right about Haakon; he usually hid from Kruk, but he always came out when Kruk went to work. So where was he now.

"Please, Marnie. You have to believe me. My son is…I don't know if he's hurt or even…..please, you have to believe me. I'm telling you the truth." Frigma saw the look on Marnie's face, she knew she didn't believe her. How could anybody? This was a lost cause.

"If what you're saying is true," Marnie said slowly, "Then prove it. Wingless and I once had a conversation when I was ten about how cute one of the boys in this village was. Which boy were we talking about?"

"First of all, I couldn't talk, so we were writing it out in the dirt behind the forge. You were trying to get out of your apprenticeship." Frigma started automatically. "Secondly, it was Tuffgrip, and you were talking about how you thought, if you two had kids, they'd have the cutest freckles. But you disliked his blonde hair. You wanted red-headed kids."

"Oh, Gods," Marnie gasped, staggering back. "It really is you!" She couldn't believe it, but she had to. The proof was right there.

"So will you help me find my son?" Frigma asked once again, holding out her hand. Marnie looked straight into her eyes, and saw once again the undeniable color of her once dragon friend's eyes. She took her friend's hand and smiled.

"Of course."


	7. Chapter 7: The Need for Answers

**I'm ganna try and stick to a definite format from now on: The dragon's perspective first, then Frigma's. I just think it'll be more organized.**

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**Chapter Seven: The Need for Answers**

"_Hey, wait up!"_ Eira bounded out of the shadows after her brothers, miffed at constantly being left behind. Those boys just didn't know how to wait for a proper lady! _"I want to go home as much as you guys, but please!"_

"_Hurry up!"_ Roan snapped over his shoulder, which earned him a slap from the tail of the Mother-Imposter.

"_I may not be Wingless, but you're still technically my children; and I will NOT have you speak to your older sister that way!"_ Hardennji said, ignoring the glare Haakon was giving her. The tension in the air as the four Nightfuries and Freya raced through the hallways of Asgard was so thick; you could cut it with a butter-knife. None of the children wanted to speak with Hardennji, Roan and Haakon were growing increasingly more irritated by the second with their sister, and Freya's normally perfect hair was starting to frizz out from the hatred that was flowing so freely between her companions. She was the Goddess of Love; feelings of hate really affected her.

"We're almost out." Freya said, leading the way through the maze of walls. A large, ornately carved door stood at the end of one last hallway, and all five beings ran that much faster. Haakon, Roan and Eira didn't know what was on the other side of the door, but they knew they'd be safer once they were out of the Holy Mansion of the Gods.

"_Finally! I HATE being inside!"_ Roan thought, stretching his wings a bit. Unlike Haakon, Roan and Eira hadn't ever spent as much time as the eldest son indoors, and Haakon had almost forgotten how uncomfortable they must have been.

Freya reached the door first, but before Haakon could rear up and shove the door forward, the Goddess was able to open the door herself. The dragons were all quite curious as to whether the door was really light, or if the Goddess was really strong, but they didn't have time to ask; Hardennji was shoving them through the doorway, grumbling about 'lazy children, just standing around!'

What greeted them was beyond explanation. Freya and Hardennji seemed unfazed by the sight in front of them, but the three siblings couldn't help but stop to stare. They stood on a stoop overlooking one of the most beautiful gardens any of them had ever seen. Okay, it was THE most beautiful garden any of them had ever seen; not only was every twig and leaf in full bloom, but the sun shone down on the landscape ahead of them, something that didn't happen often where they came from. Rolling hills covered in tall, green grass sat nestled in between two large mountain ranges. To the left of the hills was a rather short set of mountains, barely more than hills themselves. They looked bright and inviting, and one even had a small white building atop it; Haakon figured it was another home of the Gods.

The mountain range on the opposite side was quite a different story, though. Not only were these mountains twice as tall and incredibly steep looking, they were an angry gray color, with a speckling of snow on each one. For a dragon, a sight such as this usually wouldn't have even made them flinch; but something about those mountains just screamed danger, and all three siblings' intuitions started blaring warning signals.

"_Uh, hey,"_ Roan thought, swallowing hard, _"We're not going to be going over those mountains, are we?"_ Freya looked over her shoulder at the smallest dragon and smiled.

"I'm afraid so," she said, trying not to sound frightened herself. In truth, the Gods never travelled that way. Why would they need to? Frey and Freya could will themselves to any location, on Earth or otherwise. But she knew these dragons and Hardennji could only travel the old fashion way, and there was no way she was going to leave them to stumble through the mountains blindly. Hardennji could hardly control these children, and even she wasn't sure of the way.

But just because she'd never travelled through the mountains didn't mean Freya would be getting them all lost. Many times she'd over-seen the journeys of Odin and Thor through the mountains from her Golden Eye; she knew the path well. She also knew the dangers well, and that these dragons were all going to have to put their petty disputes aside if any of them ever wanted to make it back to Earth alive!

Haakon swallowed the lump in his throat and puffed up his chest. He wasn't going to show how scared he was. He was NOT going to give Eira or Roan any reason to mock him. He was going to be brave and lead the way through the mountains! But as he marched forward, Freya raised an eyebrow and reached out a hand to grab his tail.

"Where are you going?" she asked, genuinely puzzled. Eira and Roan snickered while Haakon stuttered a bit before going silent. "We're not going to just rush up the cliff side unprepared! We need to make a little pit-stop, first."

"_Okay, fine. But where would that be?"_ Haakon asked, tugging his tail free of Freya's grip.

"There," Freya pointed to the little white mansion sitting on the mountains to the left. None of the dragons knew what was there, but Hardennji shot her friend a curious glance.

"_What is there that we could possibly need?"_ she thought.

"Oh, you'll see." The Goddess skipped forward, threatening to leave her companions behind. So what choice did they have but to follow?

**...**

"Drory, you drunken fool! Look what a mess ya've made!" A large, black-haired Viking sat at a long table, a set of shining golden silverware and an empty plate sitting in front of him. One eye was covered with a patch sewn into the skin, but the other eye was glaring at his considerably smaller friend, Drory, while he was waving his hands and shouting. Drory didn't seem to notice his friends blathering; he was content to sip from his mug and gaze around the hall fondly.

"Don't ya think, Hasgar, tha' the color of these walls is just divine?" he said, a slight hiccup in his voice. The black-haired Hasgar pounded his fist on the table to get his companion's attention back.

"Listen ter yerself! Drunker than a dragon! You call yerself a Viking, but ya can't even hold yer own mead!" In The floor space around the two men was red and stained from the blood gushing from their stab wounds; though neither was in any pain. How could you be in any pain, if you're already dead?

"I'm not the one who was swinging 'is sword around like a damn girl!" Drory retaliated, his voice raising an octave. He brought his mug down on the table with a loud BANG, mead sloshing over the sides.

"Ya deserved it, first to swaller 'is mead is ALWAYS the first ter go down!" Hasgar stood up, nearly knocking his bench over, and Drory copied him, grim expressions on both men's faces. Both were too consumed in their shouting match to realize that they weren't alone in this long, golden-gilded hallway.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Freya called out, bowing politely to the two drunks. The Vikings at this hall were not to see the dragons (most had quarrels with them from their lifetimes) so the three siblings and Hardennji were huddled around the crack in the door on the far side of the hall, all trying to listen in on what was happening inside. "I was wondering if I could ask you something."

Now, this hall wasn't of the Gods; though Thor himself did often sit with the warriors for their nightly feast. No, this was where all Viking Warriors went after their lives had ended, to start every day with a battle and end every night, drunker than a dog and then start the whole process over again. This was Valhalla.

So, being in such close quarters with Thor, and even, on occasion, Odin; these men were no strangers to Freya. They'd seen her before, though usually always accompanied by her fearsome brother Frey. So when they saw the golden-haired maiden, standing alone before them, they both nearly jumped out of their skins trying to reach her.

"Anything for you, precious Freya!" Drory said in a slightly sing-song voice, smiling his nearly-toothless grin. Hasgar pushed in front of Drory and bowed to the Goddess.

"Your wish is out command, your Holiness!" To this, Freya smiled and nodded, patting both men on the head and reducing them to puddles of beaming, drunken foolishness.

"I was wondering; which of you was the first slain in today's battle?" An innocent enough inquiry, that sent both men into an impromptu fist-fight. Freya broke it up quickly, and it was some time before she coaxed out the answer. "So it was Drory, was it? Well, that's nothing to be ashamed of!" Freya reached over to the table and, taking a mug, raised it in a toast. "First to fall fought with the most vigor, am I right?" Freya did not usually act this familiar with the Warriors in Valhalla, but she just needed a question answered by Drory, and acting as their equal was the only way to get what she needed.

Drory's grin returned, much to the displeasure of Hasgar, and he raised his own mug.

"Quite right, Freya! D'ya mind tellin' that ter this dunderhead?" He stabbed his thumb at Hasgar, and even Freya couldn't stifle a laugh. But before Hasgar could make any move to harm his companion, Freya snapped her fingers, and the black-haired man was gone. Drory was so astonished, he dropped his mug, and mead went spilling everywhere. "Wha' happened ter Hasgar!" he gasped, looking around him as if his friend had just run off to hide somewhere.

"I've sent him back to the battle. You and I have a more important matter to discuss." Freya pulled a chair out and offered it to Drory, and after he absently lowered himself into it, she took the seat right next to him. "So you were first slain. Hmmm. Well Drory, how long was it before Hasgar was slain also?"

"Tha' idiot? He was wavin' 'is sword around fer another good twenty minutes 'fore some lucky fella done 'im in." he rolled his eyes submissively and leaned back in his chair. "Serves 'im right; I coulda had a good battle today, if not for 'im."

"Did you find anything…ah, strange….sitting on the table when you appeared here?" Freya knew very well that Drory had found her silver dipper; it was just a matter of getting Drory to cough it up. Vikings had no use of the things in the halls of Valhalla, but many still stole; old habits die hard.

"Oh, that old thing?" he said, jerking his head to the right, indicating an oddly shaped piece of silver, bloody and sitting on the floor. It looked like it might have once been a dipper, but now it was bent and crushed, as if bashed against something dreadfully hard. "When Hasgar popped up, I took it and beat 'im over the head with it."

This didn't seem to worry Freya too much, and after wiping most of the blood off the silver, she deposited it into her satchel. Then, with a pleasant 'Goodbye' and a wink, she transported Drory back to his beloved battle. She knew it was against the rules to do that; besides, they'd get another chance tomorrow. But she didn't want him to just sit around, getting drunker and drunker as the day went on.

As she skipped out of the now-empty hall, she was greeted by curious looks from all four dragons. "What?" she asked innocently, shrugging.

"_What's with the ladle?"_ Haakon thought, poking his nose against her satchel, smelling the cold silver through the fabric. Even Hardennji didn't know what the ladle was for, though she did know it was one of Freya's many magical trinkets, and usually sat on a shelf next to the Golden Eye.

"_And is that thing even considered a ladle anymore?" _Roan countered, shoving past Haakon to try and get a sniff. Eira didn't even know what a ladle was or what it did; she had never been interested in the humans when she'd lived with her parents.

"All in good time, children." Freya soothed, and then put her hand to her nose. "But first, we have to get out of this hall; I can't stand the stench of blood!"

* * *

"Hey Dad. Can I ask you a favor?" Marnie leaned in over the counter at the forge, shooting her Father one of her famous smiles. Most people couldn't resist Marnie's dimpled smile, but Hiccup knew better. He'd been getting tricked by his daughter for twenty years, and he was now just getting smart to the fact that, whenever she whipped out her toothy grin, she wanted something.

"What?" he asked cautiously, setting down the sword he was sharpening and whipping his hands off on his smock. Marnie twirled a lock of red hair on her pointer finger, and laughed.

"What's with the tone, Daddy Dearest?" she replied innocently. Hiccup just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want, Marnie? I can tell you right now, that ruby-hilted axe isn't for sale, its-"

"Oh, I'm not here about that old thing!" she waved a hand in the air and then, swinging her legs over the counter, hopped right into the forge. "I actually came to ask if I can borrow something."

Now, for the past three years, Marnie had made it her mission to stop by the forge every day to badger her Father about this gorgeous axe with rubies smithed into the hilt. So when she told Hiccup this wasn't about the axe, he couldn't think of anything else she'd be pining to borrow.

"Okay, but…if not the axe, then what?" he inquired, a bit more open-minded now that his prized possession wasn't in question. Marnie's eyes swept around the forge momentarily, and then rested on the big lump of scales, snoozing in the corner.

"It's not really a 'what', so much as it is a 'who'." She said, smiling as she pointed to Toothless. "Can I barrow Toothless for the day?"

"What!" What could his daughter possible need with his dragon? She had her own, for crimenies sake! "T-toothless? Why do you need to borrow him; where's Haakon?" It's not that he didn't think she'd be careful or get Toothless hurt; it was the other way around! Toothless wasn't very careful himself, and was notorious for knocking things down without realizing it, or forgetting you were on his back while Flying and do a barrel roll!

"Actually, Haakon's the reason I need to borrow Toothless. I saw him fly off this morning, and I want to go chase him down." She was one of the best liars in Berk, could look you straight in the eye and tell you she was a purple flying hippo, and she'd make you believe it! But her father knew when she was lying; call it a parent's intuition. And then again, he'd come to realize, that he really shouldn't get mixed up with Marnie's things. They almost always ended up badly for Hiccup; like the time he tried to interfere with her relationship with Kruk, and then they got married behind his back. That hadn't turned out so well.

"Ug, fine fine. Have him back by dusk, though. The last thing we need to two odd-balls flying around in the dark, crashing into things and causing who-knows –what kind of mayhem in Berk!" He rolled his eyes and picked up the sword he'd set down not a moment ago, and returned to sharpening it. Letting out a squeak of happiness, Marnie grabbed Toothless' saddle, jerking him awake, and started dragging him outside.

"Thanks, Dad! You're a gem!" she called through the window as a dazed and confused Toothless followed. Outside, Frigma was waiting, wearing some heavier clothes given to her by Marnie, and almost jumped out of her skin when she saw the dragon. Marnie knew it must be hard, seeing somebody you love, but not having them recognize you. It was probably murder on the poor girl as Toothless gazed at her will dull, glazed-over eyes, not really recognizing her for more than just the girl who turned up in the middle of the woods one day.

But in truth, that wasn't exactly it. Toothless DID actually recognize her as Frigma, the girl who went missing all those years ago. He'd been trying to get a good sniff at her last night, but Hiccup had taken her to Marnie's house, though he already knew who he was dealing with. Strange; Toothless was sure Wingless had eaten Frigma.

And that wasn't all Toothless knew this girl for. He knew this girl had something to do with Wingless' disappearance. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why she smelled almost exactly like his lost mate, but he knew that she had some idea how to get Wingless back.

"So what's the plan?" Frigma asked as Marnie approached. She was really getting this talking thing down! It was only her SH's, CH's and TH's that were tripping her up now. "You DO have a plan, right?" She herself had no idea what they were going to do to save her children. Fly around the island, just calling their names? No, wherever they were, the Gods had put them there so that Frigma couldn't get at them. They'd have to journey a long way to find them, maybe even to-

"I hope you don't mind a little adventure." Marnie said, tightening Toothless' saddle and grinning. "I've never actually flown to the edge of the earth before; I hope the stories are true." Frigma froze, her eyes locked on the red-head.

"What stories? Edge of the earth…what?" she stuttered, and Marnie just gave her a weird look.

"You know; how to get to Asgard? Some say you have to die first; but I don't think we want to be that extreme. Besides, women don't go to Asgard when they die." She shrugged, as if what she was saying made total sense, which it didn't. "So we've got to go to the end of the earth. Astrid always told me stories as a kid….oh, wait," it was novel that Frigma was actually Wingless; she and Marnie shared the same past. "You already know! Remember those stories of heroes who would sail to the edge of the earth, just to meet the Gods? They would fall off before they got to see them, but because we've got Toothless, we'll be totally safe!" She smiled and patted Toothless' head, but he'd just decided to yawn then, and ended up accidentally biting Marnie's hand.

She let out a yelp and pulled her hand away. "Well, mostly safe."


	8. Chapter 8: Maps and a Plan

**New cast list! Aha, bear with me, I just gatta rattle off a few names 'fore I can go forward!**

Tuffgrip, Tune and Giggle – Triplets of Tuffnut and Asa, two years younger than Marnie.

Featherdown – Also daughter of Tuffnut and Asa, 7 years younger than Marnie

Littlestink (why did I name him that!) – Fishleg's and Ruffnut's son, three years younger than Marnie

Axel – Son of Thauktin and nameless guy( I never really paired her w/anyone) One year older than Marnie

**All these guys will pop up here shortly; I didn't want ya'll to be confused!**

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* * *

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**Chapter Eight: Planning and Maps**

"_Stop that."_

"_I'm not doing anything!"_

"_Yes you are; stop poking my wing!"_

"_I am NOT poking your wing! Maybe if you moved it, it wouldn't be bumping into my shoulder!"_

"_Ug, you are SO childish!"_

"_Say that again, Eira, and you'll regret it!"_

"_Say ANYTHING again and you'll BOTH regret it!" _Haakon snapped, growling at his brother and sister. Both pairs of eyes; one blue, one gray, looked down at their feet. Hardennji was surprised; she was about to yell at the quarrelsome children herself before Haakon beat her to the punch. He was really taking a patriarcle role here.

"Please, if you must argue, could you at least do it quietly?" Freya begged. All four dragons were gathered around her in the middle of the green garden, and the Goddess was currently glaring at each of them in turn. "I must concentrate here!" She was sitting criss-cross (rather un-lady-like) with the Golden Eye suspended above her lap. Haakon had managed to straighten out to silver dipper for her, and now she was dipping it into the liquid-like surface of the Golden Eye.

"_What exactly are you doing?"_ Roan asked impatiently, tapping his tail on the ground, to his sister's discontent. To him, it looked like she was taking out little droplets of water only to throw them back into the orb.

"Aha!" Freya cried, finally showing the dragons what she'd caught in the ladle. "See here; this is what will help us over the mountains!" But when Haakon Roan and Eira all peered over the lip of the ladle, they only saw a tiny silver drop.

"_How?" _Roan continued, raising a scaly eyebrow. "_I drink more water than that in my sleep."_

"This isn't for drinking! It has special properties; look a little closer." Freya urged, and indeed, when Haakon squinted his eyes and focused on the drop, he could see the tiny image of a dragon in the liquid. It was clearly a Nightfury, but it was gray, not black. And its eyes were a light blue-green.

"_Mother!"_ he cried, jumping up and knocking his fair-scaled sister over. Roan squinted, also, but wasn't seeing what Haakon was seeing.

"_Where? Where!"_ but before either of them could keep looking, Freya took the drop away. The Golden Eye was no longer hovering over her lap (while the others were gawking at the droplet, she'd stowed it in her satchel) and in its place, she put the droplet. It hovered there like a miniature Golden Eye, but as Freya closed her eyes, it started to spin. And then, the little drop started to elongate, until it finally stopped spinning. When it did stop, it was about the shape of a needle; silver and slick, but Haakon could still see the faint out-line of his Mother reflected on the surface if he looked close enough.

"_Freya, even I'M confused. What's with this thing?"_ Hardennji thought, giving the little silver needle a sniff.

"As Haakon has already assessed, I've fished out the strongest memories and images of Frig- I mean Wingless from my Golden Eye, and condensed them into this one tiny droplet. Using it like a compass needle, it will point us in the direction of your Mother." Freya explained. Roan and Eira gave her approving looks, but Haakon wasn't so convinced.

"_Wait; you mean to say you don't already know where she is?"_ he asked, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion. Freya looked down for a moment before replying.

"I do know where she is; but the only way I know how to get to her is a type of travel unachievable for you three and Hardennji. So we're going to have to take the hard way, and unfortunately, I don't know the exact route to take through the mountains."

"_What do you mean by 'route'?" _Eira questioned. "_Don't we just have to cross over them?"_

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. There are many different paths and passes in those mountains; their designed to make it impossible for mortals to pass through without first dying, and that also means it's nearly impossible for us to get through either. But not with this needle," she held up her hands, the needle still hovering above them. "It will show us where to go; it's programmed to point to wherever your mother is."

"_What are we waiting for?" _Haakon said, jumping up and wiggling his haunches. "_Let's go; Mother's only a few mountains away!"_

* * *

"Tough luck, Goldie-Locks." Axel twirled the younger boy's helmet on his index finger, keeping Tuffgrip at bay with his foot. "Finders keepers, you know the drill."

"That's my Dad's!" Tuffgrip shouted, cursing Axel's long legs and making a mad grab for his helmet. "I was only gone for a minute!" Both boys were sitting beside Tuffgrip's house as Marnie, Frigma and Toothless passed them.

"You know what? You should have thought of this before putting honey in my hair the other day." Marnie just rolled her eyes at them; she'd known these two almost her whole life, and while they claimed to be best friends, they were always getting into fights like this.

"You shouldn't have been kissing my sister!" Tuffgrip was furious, but, as always, he wasn't using his head. This all really WAS his fault; Tune and Axel had been seeing each other for a while now, but he still couldn't get over his whole big-brother duty. This could have all been avoided if Giggle hadn't left the honey out in plain sight, though!

"What are you two squawking about?" Marnie sighed, walking over and snatching the helmet from Axel's grip. "Why do you have to be so mean, Axel?" She tossed the helmet back to Tuffgrip, who shot her a thankful smile before landing his fist in Axel's gut.

"OW! Why, you little-!" But Marnie grabbed the back of Axel's shirt just as he lunged for Tuffgrip's neck, and she pulled him back to the ground.

"Jeez, for someone who's the kid of a midget, you sure are tall!" she complained, since even while sitting, his head almost came up to her shoulders.

"Hey, don't call my Mom a midget! You'll pay for that one, Haddock!" He tried to grab Marnie and flip her over, but as he always did, he forgot that she was the daughter of Astrid Hofferson, one of the best fighters the village of Berk had ever seen. Marnie easily swatted his hand away and rolled him onto his back. She put a foot on his chest and raised a fist dramatically.

"I have won!" she declared, smirking.

Frigma watched the exchange with amusement; she'd watched many others in the past like this; Marnie was closer than Honey and bees to these guys. It was weird; she tolerated Tune, Giggle and Featherdown, but she wasn't really friends with any other girls.

She didn't want to interrupt Marnie's fun, so she turned her attention to Toothless. It was hard to look the dragon in the eye, now that he no-longer knew who she was. Even just patting his head made her eyes water; she missed being able to nuzzle her head on his neck and feel protected and loved. Now she just felt…empty. Empty and alone.

"Oh, Toothless," she muttered, scratching the spot in between his eyes that she knew he loved to have scratched. "I keep wishing this is all a nightmare, and that I'll wake up and Hiccup will tell me I was mumbling in my sleep." But she knew this was all too real. Frigma had never felt this cold in a dream.

"Hey, Marnie; who's that?" Frigma's head snapped up just as Tuffgrip pointed at her. She was not usually a snippy person, but she had the sudden urge just then to take the boy by the shoulders and shake him back and forth. She wanted to yell 'Don't you recognize me!' That is, until she realized none of these children had ever seen her as a human before.

"Oh, she's a friend of the family," Marnie said casually, before skipping back to Frigma, winking and took her hand to drag her over to her friends. "Everyone, meet Frigma." She introduced. Frigma waved sheepishly and smiled, but it wasn't returned. Axel's face looked bored, while Tuffgrip's face looked….well, he was definantly his Father's son, let's put it that way.

"Friend of the family? I'VE never seen her before." Axel drawled, examining the dirt under his nails. Now Frigma remembered why she didn't like this boy; he made you feel dumber than a sack of hammers.

"You haven't seen a lot of things, Axel. Don't mind him." Marnie said. "And, Tuffgrip, please stop giving her the death glare." Frigma's smile faded, but Marnie's grew bigger just as an ominously large boy waltzed around the corner. Frigma knew who he was; it was Littlestink. She'd never really liked this boy; not because he was mean or anything. His mother was Ruffnut, though, and Frigma couldn't forgive the she-devil for trying to steal Haakon. He was surprisingly pleasant, though; probably due to him taking a greater liking of his father rather than his mother. He looked just like Fishlegs, with the same pin-cushion smile and everything! "Stink, just the man I wanted to see!"

Littlestink and Marnie had a weird relationship. Marnie was hopelessly smitten for Kruk, but from a young age, Littlestink had always been chasing after her. Maybe it was because Ruffnut had forbade Littlestink from ever speaking to Marnie, or maybe it was because Marnie was one of the prettiest girls in Berk, or maybe it was because she was the daughter of the chief. But since the first time he laid eyes on her, he'd been head-over-heels in love.

Poor Littlestink finally had to give up on his crush-like infatuation when Marnie got married, but once, Frigma (when she'd been a dragon) had come across him at his shop (Littlestink was the best Map-drawer in Berk, and held his own shop for it) doodling her on a piece of paper. It was pitiful, to say the least, but Frigma knew he wasn't as bad as she always made him out to be. He actually had a sweet heart.

But at the moment, Marnie was dragging Littlestink away from her two friends by the elbow, while Frigma followed behind. As always, Littlestink had that goofy grin on, probably hoping Marnie wanted to elope with him. But she didn't.

"Stink, I want you to help us with something." She said once they were out of earshot of the others. She gestured to Frigma, and after a quick introduction, she started her explanation. "You know these skies better than anyone I know!" she started, which made Littlestink's grin grow.

"I HAVE spent a lot of time mapping out this area. I know it like the back of my hand!" he bragged.

"And, you've been on almost every single merchant trip we've had since you were ten, so you know the surrounding area too, right?" she asked, and Frigma realized where this was going.

"Uh, yeah. That's right."

"Great! Cause we've got a job for you!" Marnie clapped her hands together and then started dragging Littlestink back to Toothless.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. You've gatta explain all this," he started to say, realizing what Marnie was trying to ask. "I-I've never been past The Ice Inlet, and I really don't know The Black Mountain area very well, and-"

"Listen, Stink; we really need you. We've got to go find somebody who's gone missing." Marnie said, spinning around to face him. "It's Haakon, alright? And we think he's….Frigma, you tell him!" Marnie was usually so good with words, but there was just something about Littlestink's attitude and his all-too-cute face that made her words come out in jumbles. She was never able to lie to him. But that didn't mean Frigma would be any better at explaining this to him than her. But, she decided he didn't need to know everything. Just enough for him to get them to the edge of the earth.

"I think I know where Haakon has gone." Frigma started, reading Littlestink's expressions carefully. "I think he's gone to the, uh….you're going to think this is crazy, but….I think he's gone to the edge of the Earth." She winced after the words left her mouth; it DID sound crazy. Frigma was still in shock that Marnie believed this herself! But to her utter amazement, Littlestink's face didn't change.

"Yeah, so?" he asked, like it was no big deal. "Dragons gatta live somewhere. Where else do you think they come from after the nest was destroyed?" Frigma couldn't believe her ears! She'd never been superstitious as a child; Bjanca didn't think it was healthy to believe in things no-body had ever seen. But she guessed that maybe this was all common knowledge that everybody taught their children. She just must not have heard it when she'd been deaf.

"Um, did your Dad drop you on your head when you were a baby?" Marnie asked sarcastically, leaning on one foot. "I've never heard that!" Okay, so maybe it WASN'T common knowledge.

"But, he'll probably come back," Littlestink continued, trying to edge away, but being thwarted as Marnie grabbed his sleeve. "What do you want me to do? It's not like I could take you guys there, anyway. I've never been that far before. Ships fall off the edge, remember?"

"Yeah, but we won't be ON ships. Stink! We'll be on dragons! And besides, we think something bad's happened to Haakon. Domesticated dragons don't just LEAVE! There has to be a reason!" Frigma was relieved that Marnie wasn't revealing too much about their predicament. No need to drag Littlestink through the mud with them.

"Still, I don't know how to get there!" he argued.

"I know that, but you can at least get us past the Inlet. And just think about it," she wrapped her arm around his shoulders (not an easy task) and swept her arm out in front of them, as if to illustrate a big picture. "Thousands of miles of uncharted land, just WAITING to be mapped! You'd be the first person to document all that sea; you'd be famous!" she was really laying it on thick! Frigma was grateful as Littlestink's hard shell was beginning to defrost.

"Hmmmm. I HAVE been dying to see what that mountain range on the horizon is," he mused, scratching his chin. "And, being famous does sound kinda nice…." Really, he just wanted to impress Marnie. Maybe then she'd recognize his smarts and brain-power! Not. After giving Marnie and Frigma one last glare, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, I'll go with you. But ONLY for mapping purposes! And if Hiccup ever found out I let his only daughter out alone without trying to stop her, he'd have my head and feed it to Toothless!"

Marnie let out a small trill of triumphant laughter and punched her fists in the air. "Yes! Haakon, here we come!"


	9. Chapter 9: Dreams

**Yay! Chapter nine! Gosh, the sequel's moving slower than Tough Love was! Ug, what is WITH me and these stupid chapters having like, no action? Grrrr!**

**Short dragon piece this time! **

**

* * *

****Chapter Nine: Dreams**

Haakon was probably one of the only Nightfuries; no, scratch that, one of the only DRAGONS in history that didn't like the dark. He, of course, never told anyone about it (how could he before this?) but his mother had never let him out at night when he was young, and he grew up thinking there must be something bad outside during the night. He'd always get spooked by the smallest of shadows; so when the sun started to set over the mountains just as the odd group of dragons and Goddess reached its base, he began to shiver.

"_Aw, is little hatchling Haakon scared of the big bad mountains,"_ Eira teased, a sly smile spreading over her face. Roan gave her a smack on the snout for that, but Haakon didn't really care. He just didn't want to enter the mountains at night.

"_Eira, that's no way to talk to your older brother!"_ Hardennji snapped over her shoulder as she trotted along next to Freya. This shut all three siblings up for a few minutes. While they didn't like to admit it, Hardennji DID look like their mother (their mother never snapped at them, though) so it was hard not to obey her. It was like an instinct.

"I think it would be too dangerous to start our journey at night," Freya said finally, while Haakon let out a giant breath he'd been holding. She raised an arm and pointed to a shallow cave in the mountainside to their right. "We should rest there until morning."

Haakon happily complied. And soon, all five of them were sleeping happily (Freya never sleeps, but she could pretend, as she knew it was unnerving trying to sleep while someone was watching you) and it wasn't until Haakon started to dream did anything bad happen.

…

"Where am I?"_ he asked drowsily, lifting his head up. Hmmm, he didn't remember falling asleep on his back; and why was his head so itchy? Did he have mites? Almost unthinkingly, he tried to raise his back leg to scratch his head, but it not only got caught underneath a blanket that he assumed Freya put there, and, he found that his leg wouldn't go up very far._

_What was this! His hands were….were…..he let out a shriek and fell over the edge of something. A bed? Where was he!_

"Haakon? What's the matter, sweetheart?" _And oddly familiar human voice asked from the next room. In the blink of an eye, a strange brown haired human girl walked in, wringing her hands and reaching down for Haakon. Why was she so big? HE was usually bigger than humans! "Did you fall out of bed?" she asked, taking him in her arms and lifting him up. It was then that realized what he was._

"I'm a human!"_ he gasped, trying to wriggle free of the female's grip. She just laughed and kissed his forehead. Ew, he hated that!_

"Of course you are, silly! You may ACT like a dragon, but you're just my baby human!" _she giggled, and carried him out of the room. While she carted him around the house, he began inspecting the black strands of hair hanging down in his eyes. It was so itchy, how did humans stand it?_

"Haakon fell out of bed! Haakon fell out of bed!" _another oddly familiar voice sang as the female set him down in the kitchen of some foreign house. It came from a little boy with bright red hair, sitting at a table with a blonde little girl. Were these children….Roan and Eira?_

"Children, stop that!" _boomed a tall black-haired man as he sauntered in. His eyes were the most brilliant green Haakon had ever seen. This reminded Haakon of something; he looked into the eyes of everyone in turn. The red-haired boy had gray eyes and the girl had light blue eyes. And finally, he looked at the older female. She had the most spectacular sea-foam green eyes he'd ever seen._

"Mom?"_ he asked, one eyebrow raised. _

"Yes, dear?"_ she answered as the black-haired man walked up to her side and kissed her cheek. Haakon just stood there slack-jawed, and the man took the chance to get in a few words._

"I've gatta go help Hiccup today at the forge, Wingless."_ He said, causing the woman's eyes to cloud with worry._

"I hate it when you work there, Toothless!" she said, "You got so seriously burned last time!"_ So this man was his…..father! And the woman was Wingless!_

"I know, I know. But the boy is practically helpless without me. And c'mon, I can't abandon my friend."

"Haakon, tell your father to listen to reason!"_ the woman who was supposed to be Wingless aid turning to him. But Haakon couldn't answer; he was already zooming away from the dream._

Haakon woke in a cold sweat, something dragons didn't often do. He sat bolt right up, and as he did, Freya listed her head and shot him a questioning glance.

"A bad dream, Haakon?" she asked innocently, though he knew that she probably knew what he'd dreamt.

"_Not bad. Just…..I can't wait to see Mother again."_

_

* * *

__Wingless hated It when Astrid and Hiccup fought. Anyone could see they weren't the perfect couple; in fact they were like complete opposites! And they usually got into little shouting matches here and there, but those usually ended in Hiccup sheepishly saying he was sorry, and Astrid grudgingly apologizing, also. But not this fight. This fight had been going on since dawn; and seeing as it was already near midnight, Wingless was very doubtful it would end soon._

_Thank the Gods Haakon had enough sense to take Marnie away for the night. Wingless always knew that boy had a good head on his shoulders, and poor Marnie needed to be kept away from her parents while they were like this. Wingless was fairly certain they had taken off somewhere in the forest with Axel and Tuffgrip (and no doubt Littlestink had followed along as well) and were probably sitting around a fire that Haakon had lit. She wasn't worried; it was the middle of the summer, so they wouldn't freeze to death, and Wingless knew Haakon would protect Marnie, no-matter what._

_But that still left Wingless and Toothless in the middle of the fight. Of course Toothless was trying to put in his two cents; snarling and growling at no one in general; just for the sake of making noise. But Wingless HATED fighting and wanted no part in it. Unfortunately, Astrid had other plans._

"_How can you say that! Wingless is what she is today because of me!" she screeched, grabbing Wingless by the saddle that no one had bothered to take off and dragging her forward. "Insult me and you insult her, too!"_

"_You never listen, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted back, shoving Toothless out of the way to get closer to Astrid. "If you'd just shut up for a minute, maybe I could explain!"_

"_Don't tell me to shut up! How DARE you speak to me like that!" and as Wingless tried to inch away, Astrid yanked her back again. "Don't come near me, you moron! Get one step closer, and Wingless will tear your eyes out, or else I will!" It took a lot to make a Nightfury, the most powerful dragon around, to tremble in fear. And boy, were these two scary when they wanted to be._

_This was all great fun for Toothless, who didn't quite grasp the situation, until Astrid snapped and tried to throw a punch at Hiccup. Hiccup wasn't an idiot, and over the years had learned several ways to successfully dodge Astrid's fists. But this particular time, he didn't get the chance, because before fist met arm, Wingless had Astrid's hand in her jaws._

_Wingless wasn't trying to hurt Astrid; Astrid was her best friend! But she did want the fighting to stop, and this was the only way she knew how to do it. But she must have bit down a little harder than she meant to, because when Astrid pulled her hand free, screaming, it was dripping with blood._

"_Wingless!" this time it was Hiccup who was shouting, and he shoved her to the side to examine Astrid's hand. Astrid wasn't crying; but she wasn't yelling anymore and she certainly wasn't happy. "What have you done?" She'd never gotten Hiccup mad at her before, and she didn't like it. And neither did Toothless._

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"_ she thought frantically as she raced out of the house, just as Hiccup's helmet clattered against the place she'd been standing in a moment ago. Was he throwing things at her! What was this; she hadn't meant to hurt Astrid! _

_But she'd accomplished what she'd meant to do; they weren't fighting anymore. And she guessed that was all that mattered._

_Wingless didn't make it far. She had been determined to reach the forest and spend the night in her usual sulking place; the little patch of grass on the other side of the Island overlooking the big cliff. But just as she approached the edge of the forest, a weight pressed down on her back, and she lost her balance and fell to her side. Looking up, her eyes met with the familiar green eyes of Toothless, though the amount of sadness in those eyes was uncommon._

"Get off me, you fat lump!"_ Wingless shouted in her head, trying to pry herself from underneath his belly. But Toothless wasn't letting her get away, and even when she did get loose, he wrapped her wings around her and thwarted her efforts to take to the skies. "_Can't you just let me be?"

"Wingless, what's wrong?" _Toothless thought, dragging her back to the ground and sitting on her tail, basically guaranteeing she wouldn't go anywhere. He didn't understand what was going on; he knew his humans were upset, and he knew Wingless was upset, so to him, that was all that mattered. This was one of those times, though, that he wished dragons could speak like humans._

"What?"_ Wingless thought, letting her wings fold back up and relaxing. He had her attention. Now what did he want with her? _

"You are pretty when you're annoyed with me,"_ Toothless thought, stretching forward and giving her a lick on the nose. Wingless just scowled at him, but he knew she wasn't going to smack him like he knew she wanted to. _

"I will never understand you,"_ Wingless just shook her head and let out a deep breath. "_But fine. I won't be running away. Just gimme back my tale!"_ She yanked her tale out from under him and gave him a good-natured shove, which led to a shove on his part, and that led to the eventual play fight that resulted in Toothless getting himself stuck hanging upside down in a nearby tree. "_I NEVER lose, Toothless!" _Wingless thought, walking up to him, her face level with his while he dangled helplessly from one of the branches. "_When are you ever going to learn that, you delightfully dimwitted dragon?"

_Toothless let out a purr as Wingless licked his nose in return. He wasn't even mad that she'd beaten him. He was just happy to be with her._

...

"Frigma!"

"Um, Frigma?"

"Oh, for the love of Odin, Wake Up!" Frigma's eyes snapped open and she almost toppled off of Toothless' back when Marnie reached back and gave her a shove. "This is no time for nodding off, Frigma!" Marnie shouted at her. Her voice was muffled by the wind, and her hair kept smacking Frigma's face. Both girls were saddled on Toothless, while Littlestink and his inherited Gronkle, Horrorcrow, were flying not far away. Frigma didn't know how she'd fallen asleep while soaring a hundred feet above the open ocean, but she was just thankful she hadn't slumped off of Toothless' back!

"Sorry," she mumbled, shaking her head to get rid of the all-too-familiar dream. The whole scene had actually happened about ten years ago, between Eira and Roan. Frigma couldn't tell if it was the wind mixed with salty sea-water that stung her eyes, or if it was tears.

"Well, don't do it again! The LAST thing we need is for the reason we're out here to fall off Toothless and die!" Frigma was still so grateful Marnie and Littlestink had agreed to help her find her children! She couldn't do any of this without them. And Marnie was the only one in Berk besides Hiccup who knew how to fly Toothless. Frigma was especially happy about that; she didn't want to make this trip without him.

The sun was setting, and the sky was painted a brilliant orange just as a little bubble of land broke the illuminated horizon. Littlestink informed them of the island's name, though Frigma was too out of it to care at this point. She was still wrapped up in her dream.

"Great, thanks Stink. C'mon, Toothless," Marnie called, steering the dragon towards the island. Frigma was grateful they were landing for the day; she was still rather tired, and hoped that if she fell asleep again, she could continue the dream. She hadn't been asleep long enough to remember the ending, and oh, how she loved the ending!

Toothless landed rather awkwardly, sending Frigma tumbling off his back, and Horrorcrow didn't land much better.

"This Island is uninhabited by Vikings, so we should be safe." Littlestink said, picking himself up after his oh-so-graceful landing.

"I'm not worried about being safe." Marnie replied, ever confident. "Toothless can handle anything that come our way, right Toothless?" She patted his head and he let out a bark that seemed to say 'Yes Ma'am!" And as Marnie and Littlestink began to gather firewood and had their dragons light it, Frigma couldn't keep her head out of the clouds.

"_Oh, Gods. I don't know why you've done all this to me. If only you knew how much this is hurting me. Freya would never do this to me. Never."_ She thought, gazing at the sky as it darkened from orange to purple to deep blue. The only thing that finally snapped her out of it was the howl of the wind and the bite of its chill. It was then that she finally had to retreat to the fire, and wait for the morning.

She didn't dream that night.


End file.
